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NOTE-BOOK 


KEPT    BY   THE 


REV.  WILLIAM    BRINSMEAD, 

%\t  .ftrgt  JUtnister  of  JEarlborotxgl),  JEajtf. 

REMARKS 

MADE    BEFORE 

THE    MASSACHUSETTS    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY, 

February  14,  1889. 

BY 

SAMUEL   ABBOTT   GREEN,  M.D. 


ORNIA 

SANTr  ■ ^ 


NOTE-BOOK 


KEPT    BY    THE 


REV.   WILLIAM    BRINSMEAD, 

&\)t  £ trjst  Jttimster  of  ptarlborougl),  |ttajSss. 

REMARKS 

MADE     BEFORE 

THE    MASSACHUSETTS    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY, 
February  14,  1880. 


BY 
SAMUEL   ABBOTT   GREEN,  M.D. 


CAMBRIDGE: 

JOHN     WILSON     AND     SON. 

Slnfbcrsftg  $)rcss. 

1889. 


REV.  WM.  BRINSMEAD'S  NOTE-BOOK. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society,  held  on  February  14,  1889,  Dr.  Samuel  A. 
Green  made  the  following-  remarks :  — 

Among  the  manuscript  volumes  belonging  to  the  Society  is 
a  note-book  of  166  pages,  kept  by  the  Reverend  William 
Brinsmead,  the  first  minister  of  Marlborough,  Massachusetts. 
It  consists  mostly  of  texts  and  heads  of  sermons  delivered  by 
him  on  Sundays,  Fast  da}Ts  and  Thanksgivings,  and  covers 
a  period,  with  no  omissions,  from  the  year  1682  to  1695.  It 
mentions  also,  briefly,  the  Wednesday  meetings  held  at  the 
houses  of  different  persons  in  Marlborough,  as  well  as  refers 
to  the  services  on  Lecture  days  in  other  towns,  where  Mr. 
Brinsmead  took  part.  In  early  times  it  was  a  practice  through- 
out New  England,  shortly  before  the  regular  communion  ser- 
vice, to  observe  a  half-day  with  some  religious  exercises,  and 
this  was  called  "  Lecture  day."  It  was  made  the  occasion 
of  some  special  pains  to  prepare  the  communicants  for  the 
sacrament. 

The  book  is  written  in  Latin,  without  a  blot  or  blemish, 
in  very  plain  and  handsome  characters  ;  and  the  texts  are  given 
either  in  Hebrew  or  Greek,  according  as  they  are  taken  from 
the  Old  or  the  New  Testament.  Sometimes  Mr.  Brinsmead 
preached  several  sermons,  on  successive  Sundays,  from   the 


I 

same  verse;  and  in  one  instance  be  appears  to  have  taken 
his  ii\i  for  thirteen  Sunday  discourses  in  succession  from 
Nehemiah  i.  14.  The  places  in  the  Bible  where  the  sal 
ta  found  are  indicated  in  the  outer  margin  in  clear  and  large 
letters;  while  the  names  of  the  Beveral  towns  where  the 
Bermons  were  preached  are  shown  in  the  inner  margin.  A 
list  of  these  towns  comprises  Billerica,  Braintree,  Chelmsford, 
l  I,  Dorchester,  Dunstable,  Groton,  Marlborough,  .Milton. 

Rehoboth,  Sudbury  and  Weymouth.  The  names  are  given 
in  a  Latinized  form,  though  sometimes  abbreviated,  thus: 
BillericsB,  Chelmesfordise,  Grotonii,  Waym.,  etc. 

The  dale  of  the  first  entry  in  the  book  is  March  5,  1681-2, 
and  of  the  Last,  February  '.'.  l'i'.'o-ti.  'I'he  first  one  may  be 
translated  thus:  — 

Marlborough,  Sunday  forenoon,  March  5.  I  preached  on  the  uses  of 
the  doctrine  Erom  these  words  taken  together,  Proverbs  viii.  .'»G  [here 
the  Bret  clause  of  the  verse  is  quoted  in  Hebrew.]  Afternoon,  I 
treated  of  the  doctrine  in  part  from  these  words,  namely  [here  follows 
thf  last  clause  <>f  the  verse]. 

<  >n  the  following  Sunday  lie  preached  another  sermon  from 
the  same  verse.  Occasionally  there  are  various  other  entries 
about  church  matters  which  the  writer  thought  worthy  of 
note:  and  in  these  brief  items  the  chief  interest  of  the  book 
now  lies.      As  examples  I  give  the  following  translations:  — 

Sunday  afternoon,  October  8,  1682.  To-day  a  contribution  was 
taken  up  for  Jonathan  Johnson,  who  has  been  boarding  a  sick  Scotch- 
man, named  William  Craford. 

Sunday  afternoon,  March  I,  1683.  To-day  we  received  into  the 
church  my  Bister  dan.-  Brinsmead. 

I  make  this  extract  in  order  to  show  how  the  writer  himself 
spelhd  the  surname,  as  it  was  often  written  " Brimsmead.'* 
,-1"'  afterward  married   John   Ruddock,  and  died  on 

February  9,  1687-8,  i  Btated   in  the  book. 


May  6,  1683.  In  the  afternoon  Mr.  Jonathan  Russell  [of  Barn- 
stable] preached  from  Psalms  lv.  22. 

October  29,  1684.  Mr.  Grindall  Rawson  [of  Mendon]  was 
ordained.1 

June  8,  1687.  Mr.  Gershom  Hobart  [of  Grotou]  preached  at  a 
Lecture. 

September  20,  1687.  John  Warner,  of  Lancaster,  was  taken  into 
the  church,  at  the  house  of  Jonathan  Johnson.  At  the  same  time 
John  Rudduck  and  Edward  Rice  were  chosen  deacons. 

Sunday  afternoon,  October  30,  1687.  Mr.  [Edward]  Taylor,  of 
Westfield,  and  Mr.  Jonathan  Russell  were  present,  and  Mr.  Taylor, 
owing  to  my  having  the  nosebleed,  offered  up  the  first  prayer. 

February  9,  1687.  About  midnight  my  sister  Jane  Rudduck  died 
happily  after  a  life  spent  happily  ;  and  in  the  afternoon  of  February 
13,  was  buried. 

September  9,  1688.  Owing  to  rumors  in  circulation  early  this 
morning  [about  the  Indians],  no  public  services  were  held. 

September  19,  1688.  Preached  on  a  Lecture  day  at  Groton,  from 
Jeremiah  xvi.  17  [here  follows  the  text  in  Hebrew].  The  pulpit  was 
so  dark  this  rainy  day  that  I  could  not  read  the  text ;  on  which 
account  it  was  read  by  Mr.  Hobart  of  that  town,  nor  was  I  able  to 
read  any  text  at  this  meeting. 

Sunday  afternoon,  March  1,  1691.  To-day  was  taken  up  a  contri- 
bution for  the  redemption  of  the  captives  from  the  Eastern  Indians 
[ab  Indis  Orientalibus],  on  the  petition  of  Henry  Jackson,  of  whose 
family  four  were  then  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 

Mr.  Brinsmead  mentions  perhaps  thirty  persons  at  whose 
houses  the  midweek  meetings  were  held.  In  this  list  appear 
the  names  of  John  Barnes,  John  Barrett,  Thomas  Beaman, 
Abraham  and  Isaac  Howe,  Widow  Hunt,  Jonathan  Johnson, 
Nathaniel  Joslin,  Henry  and  William  Kerley,  John  Maynard, 
Joseph,  Moses  and  Richard  Newton,  Daniel,  Edward,  Joseph 
and  Samuel  Rice,  John  Ruddock,  Samuel  and  William  Ward, 
Master  Weld,  Abraham  Williams,  James  and  John  Woods, 
and  others. 

1  Mr.  Sibley,  in  liis  Harvard  Graduates  (vol.  iii.  p.  101),  gives  the  date  of  this 

ordination  as  April  7,  1081. 


6 

Thia  interesting  old  volume  waa  used  by  the  Reverend 
Thomaa  Prince  in  the  preparation  of  bia  "Chronological  His- 
tory of  N'-w  England;"  and  in  his  Preface  page  \ii  .  where 
be  gives  ;i  list  of  the  manuscripts  consulted,1  be  refers  to  it. 
as  follows :  — 

An  Original  Journal  in  Latin,  composed  by  the  late  Rev.  Mr.  Brims- 
linn,/  of    Marlborough,  and    in  bia  own    Handwriting,  from    L665   to 
•  .  inclusively, 

( )n  the  paper  cover  there  is  u  brief  memorandum  In  Prim 
well-known  handwriting;  and  from  the  description  of  the 
Journal  given  by  the  Annalist,  when  in  his  possession,  it 
would  appear  that  the  work  was  probably  in  two  volumes, 
as  it  extended  over  a  period  of  thirty  years.  In  that  case 
the  Society's  copy,  which  covers  nearly  fourteen  years  and  is 
complete  in  itself,  was  the  second  volume;  but  there  is  no 
mark  on  the  book  to  indicate  this  fact.  It  is  not  now  known 
either  when  or  by  whom  the  manuscript  was  given. 

In  the  sale  "Catalogue  of  the  American  Library  of  the 
late  Mr.  George  Brinley,"  Part  I.  (Hartford,  1878),  page  128, 
under    Mather   (  Richard),    is    the   following    title,  numbered 

:  — 

M  \M  m  BIPT  Sermon,  from  Ileb.  13.  17.  preached  "At  an 
Ordination  at  Maryborough,  Apr:  7:   1»'..")9."     1 6 pages,  8°. 

1  It  may  be  worthy  of  note  that  there  arc  now  in  the  Society's  Library 
.1  other  manuscripts,  which  were  used  by  -Mr.  Prince  and  mentioned  in  this 
list.    They  are  as  follows:  — 

"The  Ui'v.  Mr.  William  Hubbard's  General  History  of  Nbw  England  from 
the  Diacorery  to  1680,  in  Ami   tho'  not  in  his  own  Hand-writing,  vet 

baring  several  Corrections  made  thereby."  This  manuscript  was  presented  by 
the  Reverend  Dr.  John  Eliot,  on  April  !>.  1791,  and  is  included  in  the  first  gift 
ever  made  to  the  So,- 

"  General  History  of  the  New-England  Indians,  to  1674.  in- 

elilMVcly." 

"  An  Origin  f  the  late  ("apt.  Lawrence  Hammond  of  Chariestown  and 

'1.  inclusively." 

re  are  various  interleaved  almanacs  with  notes  by 
Chii  I  -  wall,  the  Reverend  Thomas  Shepard  (the  sum.  of  Chariestown, 

nn,]  '  fend  Joseph  Qerrish,  of  Wenham,  which  are  mentioned   in  Mr. 


i 

This  entry  in  the  catalogue  is  accompanied  with  the  follow- 
ing note  :  — 

The  occasion  and  the  date  of  this  Sermon  deserve  notice.  The  town 
of  Marlborough  was  not  incorporated  until  May  [31],  1660,  and  the 
Rev.  William  Brinsmead  (a  native  of  Dorchester,  and  doubtless  a 
member  of  Mather's  church)  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  minister, 
but  he  was  not  installed  until  October  3,  1666.  That  he  (or  any  other) 
minister  was  ordained  at  Marlborough  as  early  as  April,  1659,  seems 
to  have  been  unknown  even  to  Mr.  Hudson,  the  local  historian. 

While  the  subject  is  involved  in  some  obscurity,  it  would 
be  an  interesting  fact  to  know  what  minister  was  ordained  on 
April  7,  1659 ;  but  all  the  circumstantial  evidence  points  to 
William  Brinsmead  as  the  man.  He  was  born  at  Dorchester, 
where  the  Reverend  Richard  Mather,  the  writer  of  the  ordi- 
nation sermon,  was  settled  as  pastor.  He  was  preaching  at 
Marlborough  as  early  as  September,  1660  ;  and  the  customs 
and  traditions  of  the  Puritan  church  would  suggest  a  pre- 
vious ordination.  The  presumption  certainly  lies  in  that 
direction. 

Mr.  Brinsmead  remained  here  during  several  years,  when, 
owing  to  some  civil  or  ecclesiastical  troubles,  he  left  the  town 
and  went  to  Plymouth  to  preach,  where  he  was  invited  to 
settle,  but  declined  the  call.  He  afterward  returned  to  the 
field  of  his  first  labors,  and  was  installed  at  Marlborough, 
on  October  3,  1666;  and  here  he  continued  his  ministrations 
until  his  death,  which  occurred  on  July  3,  1701. 

Unfortunately  the  early  records  of  Marlborough  are  lost, 
so  that  now  there  is  no  help  from  this  source  to  answer  the 
question. 


TIU.  LIBRARY 
I  \l\  I  ksi  n   01    CALIFORNIA 

s. mi. i  it. ii ban 


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